Wednesday, January 7, 2015

The Outside by Laura Bickle: Book Review

Katie
is unsure what happened to her parents and sister after she was banned from the
Amish community. She only knows that after her indiscretion with Alex, a
non-Amish man she had fallen deeply in love with, she could never return. Like all
Amish teens, Katie had fantasized about seeing “the outside” world, an
opportunity she would have been granted in time, but times were different now. A terrible plague had been unleashed into the world that turned people into
vampires, including, she is certain, some members of her beloved community. The
only safe thing to do is to leave the area.

With a heavy heart, Katie sets off
on a journey with Alex to find his family in the north, along with Ginger, an
older non-Amish woman searching for her family, and a skittish horse named
Horus. Travel is only safe during the day. At night they must find shelter quickly
or face attack by roving vampires. Attacks are inevitable and the three become
able-bodied vampire killers. Sadly, Ginger is eventually bitten and killed.

Desperate
for answers, Alex seeks a scientific solution, Katie a spiritual one. Katie
knows that the holy Himmelsbrief, the letter she faithfully wears on her
chest, has protected them more than once from vampire attacks, as has locating and standing on holy ground or a religious
site. But when the letter is lost, their options begin to dwindle.

Hope surfaces when they meet a man who has discovered a
serum that makes the body luminescent at night. Miraculously, vampires are warded off by the bright
glow. Armed with the serum they set off to share the remedy with any survivors they can find. Katie heads for home, Alex continues north to find his family. They part ways, unsure if they will ever see each other again, but love triumphs in the end.

The Outside is a wonderful tale read
alone, a real page-turner, but for back story readers may want to read theprequel, The Hallowed Ones. Personally, I longed for more oomph in the final testing of Alex's and Katie's commitment to each other. The seeds of drama were certainly there, but it felt cut off. Perhaps word count was an issue. It's just that I wanted to hang out with these characters a bit longer. Perhaps there is a sequel.

Happy New Year Sharon. I'm reading book reviews as I'm dying to get my hands on something to keep me riveted. (Struggling to finish the book I'm reading). I'm not to keen on YA but this sounds like and interesting one!